The Layton Brothers
by SamCyberCat
Summary: After many years of avoiding him, Phoenix decides to go visit his brother… Hershel Layton? Ace Attorney / Professor Layton crossover.
1. The Layton Brothers

Notes – A kinkmeme fill done for a prompt that wanted Phoenix and Layton to secretly be brothers. Set post-AJ and several years post PL3, containing mild spoilers for both of those games, and ignores the Phoenix vs. Layton crossover game canon. I wasn't originally going to post this one publicly, since it's a crack AU, but I ended up liking it enough to want to.

* * *

Why was everyone so obsessed with trains in this country?

…That was a gross exaggeration. It had been Phoenix who had decided to get the cheapest flight to England instead of going directly to London. So as a result of this he had to get through at least two bumpy train rides until he reached his brother's house.

That's right, his brother.

Phoenix Wright didn't talk about his family for a reason. And Phoenix _Layton_ talked about it even less.

Because when you're in a career that seems to involve almost everyone around you referring to you by your surname, 'Mr. Layton' instantly brought the wrong image to Phoenix's mind. Layton was Hershel's name. He was the one people knew as that and if Phoenix was going to make a name for himself then he had to choose another name to be attached to.

That was where Wright had come in.

It had been a poor pun but he'd chosen it to prove that he was the one who was right.

Because he and his brother had never truly seen eye to eye on everything. Layton, his brother Layton that is, was a truly nice guy, but he was insufferably nice. He always had that look about him that said he was right and although he wouldn't say it directly you were probably wrong. That had been why Phoenix had chosen the name Wright. He'd put up with that kindly superiority since he was a young boy and one day he'd show Layton that he knew what was best for his own life.

Part of proving himself had been the distance. He'd moved to America to lessen having to live in his brother's shadow. He didn't talk about his family but then no one ever asked. And he did make a name for himself. Right up until… well, that last trial hadn't gone so well.

He hadn't called Layton for a long time after losing his badge, because he could imagine the sort of things that Layton would have to say about it.

Eventually he'd proved his innocence through his own methods – he'd hunted down the evidence until the true culprit had no way to hide. Let's see Layton do that!

Which is exactly what he kept telling himself he wasn't coming to England just to say. Honest.

As the train pulled into the outer skirts of the city Phoenix's mind was transported back to his youth – running around with Hershel trying to solve made-up mysteries before he did. Little Nicky, their parents had called him. Not like Hershel, Hershel was tall and confident. Phoenix was the little one.

He was also the only boy his age Phoenix had ever known to drink tea. He went through it like other kids went through bars of chocolate, and he didn't seem to understand why no one else did the same. Sometimes Phoenix would drink tea just to make him feel better, because while slightly jealous of Hershel he was by no means a jerk and didn't want his brother to feel like he was odd.

Nowadays he'd sometime find it hard not to smirk when Edgeworth sipped his tea. Phoenix never had tea with Edgeworth, he'd say that he wasn't fond of the stuff and preferred grape juice, which wasn't technically a lie. But just that whole image of Edgeworth sitting in his office with his perfect wooden furniture, his chess board and his expensive tea sets imported specifically from England was enough to make Phoenix smile. Edgeworth wanted to be seen as a true English gentleman so much.

He'd probably have a heart attack if he ever found out that Phoenix was the one out of the two of them who really was English.

Having said that he did bet that Edgeworth would have gotten along with Layton wonderfully. They'd sit around drinking tea together and discussing all the ways they'd bested Phoenix in the past – he could just see it.

The thought made him grimace slightly, but it soon past as he realised that they were pulling into the station.

Climbing out of the carriage he looked around and located the top of Layton's hat among the crowd. He wondered why it took him so long to spot it.

He then realised why as he'd got over to Layton himself. That once tall boy who Phoenix had looked up to as a child, he didn't seem so tall anymore. The top of Phoenix's head reached the top of Layton's hat almost exactly and Layton was at least a foot shorter than his hat.

When had he grown so much?

"Phoenix, it's so marvellous to see you after so long," Layton said, breaking into one of those genuine little smiles of his. They had once really annoyed Phoenix, but now he realised that he'd sort of missed them too.

"Good to see you too, Hershel, but you haven't exactly got me at my best," he admitted. Donned in a grey hoodie and a homemade beanie hat he probably wasn't what Layton remembered him as having looked like.

"Nonsense, you look better now than you ever did," Layton replied, much to Phoenix's surprise, "When I last saw a picture of you there was a man in a pressed suit, who was trying very hard to prove himself. Before me is a man who looks much more comfortable about where his life is."

"Wouldn't have put it that way myself," Phoenix laughed, trying not to be embarrassed. That was just like Layton – pointing out things that no one else would consider. "Anyway, where's Luke? You two used to be attached by the hip."

Looking into the distance for a moment, Layton admitted, "Luke is… not with me anymore. It's a lengthy subject. But I'm sure you did not come here to listen to me ramble. How is Maya doing now?"

"She's gone away too," Phoenix said, looking just as distracted, "Went on to become the master of the Kurain village. Though we all knew that was going to happen one day. Seems like we have about as much luck at keeping assistants as we do girlfriends, huh?"

Ignoring the image in the back of his mind of Luke protesting at being called an assistant, Layton nodded grimly. He was the sort of man who never broke down about anything, but after losing Claire he had only openly spoken of his heartbreak to Phoenix through their letters. In return Phoenix had never even brought up the subject of Dahlia and Iris to him, making Layton wish that his brother trusted him to confide in the way Layton trusted Phoenix.

He nodded, realising he had been silent for a bit longer than was comfortable.

"At least we keep better contact with each other," he said.

Why did Layton always have to be so nice about it? He knew that Phoenix changed his name, moved to a different country and avoided talking to him because he wanted Layton out of his life and yet he still pretended that they were the same tea drinking, mystery solving brothers they had been all those years ago.

You just couldn't be outright mean to Hershel; it was like kicking a puppy. Phoenix had learned this over the years.

Putting an arm around his brother, he allowed Layton and Wright to become Hershel and Little Nicky once more, just for a moment.

"Let's get to that Laytonmobile of yours. I still haven't learned to drive yet, so there's no Wrightmobile to chase you with, so I guess I don't mind being your passenger for a while longer," he said.

"Cryptic as always," Layton laughed.

"I got that from the best," Phoenix assured.

And he meant it.


	2. The Layton Brothers and Edgeworth

Notes – The follow up to my kinkmeme fill for the prompt that wanted Phoenix and Layton to secretly be brothers. A couple of people wanted Edgeworth's reaction to finding out that Phoenix was British, so here we go! Set directly after 'The Layton Brothers' - just view this as chapter two.

* * *

This country had what Edgeworth considered a sheer beauty to it that few others could match. It was classy.

…Or at least Edgeworth's vision of it was. He ignored the crowded streets filled with teenagers who didn't know how to pull their pants up playing their obnoxious music loudly, he ignored the work-worn adults struggling to get through the city with as little trouble as possible, and he especially ignored the chain stores all down the high street that were, admittedly, not to different from the ones back in America.

He knew that the true England was just in hiding and that the real English gentlemen stayed indoors because they didn't want to be associated with this riff-raff. He'd modelled his whole persona on that sort of person, so he wasn't going to let the fact that they no longer seemed to exist in this society stop him.

The reason he'd come to England had started with tea. One of his prize possessions was without a doubt the tea set he'd had specially imported from this country. It had been his second one, since the first one had been damaged in an unfortunate incident that took place in his office. But sadly the second set had eventually met the same set when Detective Gumshoe had tried to be nice and pour him a cup of tea for when he got into the office one morning. Although he knew Gumshoe's heart was in the right place, that tea set had been doomed the moment the detective put his hands on it.

After cleaning up the broken pieces from the floor Edgeworth had decided not to cry over spilt tea and buy a new one. But it had been many years since he'd bought the set and it turned out the company that manufactured it had gone out of business, so the only way he could acquire one was from a small firm that didn't ship internationally.

This was what had forced him to come to England. Though 'forced' was a strong word, since Edgeworth was delighted to spend time here.

That delighted feeling was soon replaced with surprise as he saw the back of a familiar blue beanie making its way through the crowd.

"Wright, is that you?"

The head turned to reveal the scruffy face of what was indeed Phoenix and with him was…

…It couldn't be!

"Professor Layton? I've read about much of your work, it's an honour to meet you in person," Edgeworth said, staring at the figure in the top hat.

"Nice to see you too, Edgeworth," Phoenix muttered, rolling his eyes.

Nodding and extending his hand, Layton replied, "Any friend of Phoenix is a friend of mine. And I have heard so much about you from him, Mr. Edgeworth."

Taking the hand and shaking it, Edgeworth felt as if he'd found where all the gentlemen in England had been hiding rolled up into one person. But there was something wrong with this scenario…

"If you don't mind me asking, how do you and Wright know each other?" he asked.

Phoenix made some dramatic hand gestures for Layton to keep quiet, but it seemed the man hadn't noticed and went on, "Though he might not have mentioned it, Phoenix and I are actually brothers. Estranged over the years, but we're trying to make amends to our relationship currently."

Phoenix and Layton were brothers…?

Brothers?

That meant that Phoenix was…

"You never told me you were British!" Edgeworth demanded, suddenly feeling as if he'd been outright lied to.

"Because I knew you'd make a big thing of it," Phoenix answered, "You're almost obsessed with this culture; I didn't want you pestering me about it every day."

"So you lied to me?"

"I just didn't tell you – that's different from lying!"

"We've known each other since school, Wright. Wait, how come you were in school with me if you come from here?" Edgeworth puzzled.

"I can answer that, if you like," Layton cut in, not wanting their argument to get any worse, "Our parents both had careers that required them to live in each country. We travelled a lot in our youth but in the end Phoenix decided that he preferred America and in turn I preferred it here."

There was that weight in Phoenix's stomach that reminded him the whole reason he preferred it there was to get away from the shadow of his brother, but he ignored it for now.

"Fine, great, okay," Edgeworth mumbled, "But you didn't have to hide it from me, Wright. It doesn't take more than a glance to tell that you're not a gentleman and never have been, so I wouldn't have annoyed you about your homeland."

"On the contrary, my brother can be quite the gentlema-"

"Save it Hershel, please," Phoenix cut in, "We both know that all the genes involving being gentlemanly went to you." He turned back to Edgeworth and continued, "Well, now you know. Sorry to have kept it from you."

"It's quite all right, just a shock really," Edgeworth admitted.

"What are you even doing here anyway?" asked Phoenix, though he knew that Edgeworth often travelled abroad for cases so that was probably the reason.

Embarrassed, Edgeworth confessed, "Um, you see… my prized tea set has been damaged and the company that produced it no longer exists…"

"I think I know the one you mean," Layton replied, "There's a charming little shop just down the road that still makes them, but sadly they're not large enough to meet the demands of so many customers."

"So I have got the right place? That's good to hear. Are they really up to the standards of the original?" Edgeworth asked.

"I would certainly say so, as their wares are what I use in my own home and I have no complaints about them," assured Layton.

"It will be almost thrilling to use the same sort of tea set as the renowned Professor Layton," said Edgeworth, trying not to sound like too much of a fan.

Great, they do get along. Just as Phoenix always knew they would do. And exactly the reason why he'd secretly hoped they'd never meet. But at least they weren't talking about him.

"I had to get a new one myself recently, poor Phoenix is so clumsy and knocked one of the cups. Having an incomplete set feels very wrong."

"Oh, I'd agree with you there in both respects. There have been times when Wright and I have been in court and he's went to present some evidence only to drop it quite carelessly-"

"I get it! You're both perfect and I'm a clumsy oaf. So can you just hurry up and get married already so I don't have to listen to you raving about tea sets anymore?" Phoenix interrupted.

They both blinked across at him as if he was being unreasonable.

"There's no need for that, Wright…"

"You do have quite the active imagination there, dear brother."

Phoenix shook his head.

"Sorry, that was a bit overboard, but can we hurry up and go get Edgeworth's tea set or whatever. I'm dying of first and there's a coffee shop just across the street," he said.

"Coffee?"

He'd never heard that one word spoken with such venom, not to mention in perfect unison. The other two regarded him as if he was an alien.

"Go get your coffee then, I'm sure we'll catch up with you later," Edgeworth replied.

"And if not then you know to meet me back at the house," added Layton.

It took a few moments for Phoenix to register that he had officially been ditched by his brother and his rival. In the end it was his thirst that won out over his pride, however.

"All right, I'll see you both later then," he said, turning to leave them to their tea and their gentlemanly ways and whatever else.

Well, at least if they did end up getting married he'd know exactly what to buy them for a wedding present.


End file.
